Monday, November 28, 2016

People often ask me what I attribute my success as a self-published author to and I always answer without a doubt that it is the people in my life, my team so to say, that have gotten me to where I am today. There is a saying about it taking a village and I can state with absolute certainty that this is true.

While there are many people on my team, each who serve an important role, some of the most important people I work with day in and day out are cozy mystery book bloggers. When I first started out as an author three years ago I was so very, very, green. I had a Facebook account with a handful of family members as friends, but I had never taken the time to learn Twitter and had never even heard of Goodreads. I was lucky during my first month as an author to meet a book blogger named Amy Brantley who took time out of her busy life to show me the ropes and introduce me to the world of social media.

Shortly after I met Amy I managed to get hooked up with Lisa Kelley from Lisa K’s Book Reviews. She was more than happy to not only promote my work but also to introduce me to other bloggers such as Linda Langford from Chatting About Cozies, Kathleen Kaminski from Cozy Up with Kathy, Jenna Czaplewski from Girl with Book Lungs, Shelley Giusti from Shelley’s Book Case, and many others.

Of course once I got started in social media I took the bull by the horns and went a bit social media crazy. I began sponsoring scavenger hunts, murder mystery parties, book and swag giveaways, and of course my Halloween Spooktacular, which this year featured over 50 authors and seven book bloggers including Lisa, Jenna, and Kathy, as well as Brooke from Brooke Blogs, Karen from A Cup of Tea and a Cozy Mystery, Mary form MJN Reviewers, and Millie from A Touch of Romance Book Club.

The number of bloggers in my life has grown to the point where there are too many to mention in this one article. I do however have to give a special shout out to Lori Boness Caswell who put together a spectacular launch tour when my first set of books published by Henery Press were released in September, and Dru Ann Love who has been offering guidance and support from the beginning.

I have two Christmas Books I am promoting in November. Jpg’s of the covers are attached to the email and here are the links: